


far beyond a star

by newyorktopaloalto



Series: baby, the skies'll be blue [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, The Avengers (2012) AU, The Avengers (2012) Spoilers, Tony Being Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-10-14 22:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17516741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newyorktopaloalto/pseuds/newyorktopaloalto
Summary: When Steve started dating Tony Stark, he knew they would end up doing almost everything together. What he didn't expect (but really should have) was that 'almost everything'? Included saving the world.Good thing they could count on a little help from their friends—or at least a group of people helping them for their own gain.[Avengers (2012) but Tony and Steve are lovers, SHIELD is slow on the uptake, and someone should probably do something about those annoying Asgardians.]





	1. before the intro sequence (prologue-sp???)

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are folks, the sequel to 'one is desire (the other the means)'. This one follows its source a lot more than its predecessor. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own, so please don't sue. Title is from [Beyond the Sea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bRAtV-jgoQ). 
> 
> Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

“What'd you want me for, Cap?”

“Natasha.” 

Steve watched fondly as Tony pulled himself up short and threw a bemused look his way before regaining his usual humor and making his way to where Steve was sitting on a swivel chair, watching the live feed from the lobby of Stark tower. 

“Kinky.”

“She's in the lobby.” 

“Really?”

He was rolled unceremoniously out of the way of the screen by Tony elbowing himself in front of the screen, but managed to make his way back to his proper place by summarily grabbing Tony by the waist and hoisting him down on the chair with him. This was one of the reasons, Steve supposed, that he was forced to look at the weight-capacity before purchasing office furniture, but as Tony flicked at his bicep, Steve felt the extra minutes and dollars worth it in the cost of things. 

“Why's she in the lobby, J?” Tony asked, and Steve felt as though if JARVIS had the answer, he would have told Tony and Steve at some point without having to be asked. 

“I'm sure I would not know, Sir.” JARVIS seemed to be on the same wavelength as Steve, because his subtle hint of derision was more than evident in the AI's tone. 

Tony's phone rang. 

“J?”

“It's Agent Coulson.” 

“And Romanov's here?” The question was obviously rhetorical as Tony was still looking at the screen where Natasha was now staring into, as though knowing she were being watched. “Interesting.

“Hang up on him.” 

JARVIS assented post-haste. 

“Should I let Natasha in?” Steve asked. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Tony shrug with an indifference he knew the other man didn't truly feel—after a moment of staring at Tony through the computer screen, his lover's expression vacillating between amused and annoyed, Steve nodded and tore his eyes away from those of the man whose very soul he wished to burrow within, whose heart he wanted to reach into his chest and cradle with a tenderness Steve didn't know he could feel for a single concept. He pressed the number into the phone that would patch him through to main security, and nodded at Tony as the other man pointed down to indicate the conference he wanted to meet Natasha in. 

“Mr. Reed? Steve Rogers here—you can let Miss Romanov in... Yes, both Mr. Stark and I understand the security risk... Yes, that's fine... The conference room... Thank you.” 

Cracking out the sudden tension in his neck, Steve let out a heavy breath as he hung up the phone, shutting down the computer before making his way down to the conference room to meet with Tony and Natasha.

* * *

Steve looked up from where he and Tony were perusing the tablet at the table in front of them, one hand tapping idly at Tony's chest as Steve hung over the back of his chair like a limpet. The opening of the elevator caught his hearing, and the fast click of Natasha's heels intermingled with the precision of the security officer's own pace. Mr. Reed, as promised, delivered the redhead to Steve and Tony, and despite himself, Steve felt a flash of sympathy as the spy turned a weary gaze on the both of them. 

“Sorry for stopping by without notice.” 

“What can we do for you?” 

It was better, Steve figured, to stay silent during this exchange; it wasn't as though the repartee flew past him by any means, but he found that the more he played big and dumb, the more people tended to think him a meathead than anything of more substance—it had worked, Steve had found, to his advantage in most cases. Natasha, despite Steve's initial disappointment, seemed no different. 

“What do you know?” 

“What should I know?” 

Natasha's eyes narrowed. Tony narrowed his back. Steve tried to hide his sudden, entirely inappropriate, erection at their pissing contest. 

“Barton's been compromised.” 

“Hawkeye?” Natasha nodded at Tony's question. “How?” 

“Loki.” 

“Like as in an allegory, or as in one of the aliens?” 

“The alien.” 

“Huh.” 

Steve, head pinging back and forth between Tony and Natasha, sidled up to his boyfriend as the other man's posture straightened at every word spoken between the spy and the futurist. 

“Fury sent me to talk with Banner.” 

“And you decided that the other genius, brunet, scientist would do the trick? I'm flattered, but we're not actually interchangeable.” 

“I know you're in contact with him.” She paused—Steve, because he was looking at Natasha when Tony was looking down, ostensibly bored at the entire affair, saw her eyes flicker in what must have been some sort of conflict. “Listen, Stark—I want Barton back, the world needs you and Rogers, and you? You should take Coulson's call.”

She turned and started walking away, before making an about-face. “I'll be in India. Will one of you email Banner in the next few hours? Thanks.” 

The door closed behind the spy, and Tony turned to face Steve, who couldn't help but let the vaguely befuddled grin overtake his face. 

“Sir?”

“Yeah, J?”

“It's Agent Coulson.” 

Tony raised a brow at Steve, who shrugged. “I wouldn't mind seeing what he has to say.” 

“Put the man on the line, J—let's see what's going on.” 

“Stark.” 

“Before you say or do anything, Agent, I have to ask: Does this have anything to do with Clint Barton and Loki?” 

“Loki, the Tesseract, and Barton is compromised.” 

“The Tesseract.” 

A pause. 

“I have dossiers, Stark, but only if you let me in.” 

Tony muted the call and turned to Steve, a hint of trepidation in his eye. Steve, not wanting to see Tony's expression be anything other than curling content (or post-coital) immediately pressed against Tony where he was leaning, hip cocked and arms slightly akimbo, against the conference room table. 

“You want to do this, Steve?” Tony asked, resting his hand against Steve's neck as he bundled Tony as close to him as he could get. 

Steve smiled, nosing against Tony's forehead for a moment before answering. “I'm happy to. Do you wanna do this?” 

“Sure,” Tony replied, shrugging, “why not? We'll gang up for the first time, kick some ass, come back and eat some Thai food.”

“Chinese.” 

“We'll discuss this later.” 

There was a beep as Tony put Coulson back on the line. 

“Agent?” 

“Stark.” 

“Come on in—I'll call the front desk.” 

“Good.” 

The SHIELD agent hung up. 

“I think we might regret this.” 

“ _Think_?” 

“Know.” 

“Yeah—me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *insert Marvel opening sequence here*


	2. Holy Scene Set, Batman!

“This is terrible. I thought I wouldn't hate it, but...” Banner trailed off and went a little green; Steve kept half an eye on the doctor, wanting to quickly get out of the way if he either turned into the Hulk or if he started to vomit off the side of the helicarrier. 

“Do you need more space?” Steve asked, looking around the landing strip fruitlessly, knowing that this was about as open as it got. 

“Less space,” Banner said after a moment. “Let's go and see what SHIELD wants. Captain?” 

Steve nodded and, about to respond, was interrupted by Natasha's 'ready to start, boys?'. She leaned against a bulkhead, indifferently cool—Steve wondered how long it had taken her to perfect that perfect air of nonchalance. 

“Just what we were going to do,” Steve answered, gesturing for her to take the lead. “You know your way around this place, right?” 

“We're headed for the bridge—I'm sure a five-year-old could manage that without a guide.” Despite her words, Natasha went first—an obvious show of trust that Steve didn't know to be genuine or not. But with Barton compromised, Steve wouldn't be surprised to find out that it just might be. 

“Hey,” Banner said as they started walking, the only sign of his discomfort at hearing the bulkhead door slam shut a twitch in his eye, “thanks for the warning, by the way.

“All the guns were unnecessary,” he tacked on to Natasha. She scoffed. 

“It was likely that Stark's warning told you not to cooperate.” 

“Yeah, but you didn't bring enough insurance to cover my non-cooperation, if he did.” 

“Noted.” 

“For next time?” 

Natasha looked back and grinned. “You wouldn't make a terrible spy, Doctor Banner.” She paused. “Better than Steve, anyway.” 

“That's not a high bar,” Steve said mildly, watching with interest as she placed her hand on a scanning pad for a door to open. “Do you do that to get in all the doors, here?” 

“Just the important ones. But don't worry, your prints are still on file.” 

That didn't reassure Steve. 

“What about—?” Banner started to ask and Natasha winked at him—Steve could tell that she was enjoying this. 

“Yours too, Doctor. Anywhere you need to go, you'll be able to.” 

The three of them stood in the open doorway, staring hard at each other, until Banner pinched his nose from under his glasses and said, “Okay, fine. Fine.” He walked in. Steve stayed where he was until Natasha raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to follow Banner. 

“Captain Rogers.” 

“Director Fury.” 

Fury stepped away from where he had been shaking Banner's hand to address Steve. He looked annoyed, but Steve wasn't expecting anything better from him—their last conversation was after Steve had sent in his two-weeks notice and mostly had consisted of Fury berating him for 'falling in some sort of puppy love with Tony goddamn Stark, your _mark_ for fuck's sake, Rogers!' before waving him away, not even bothering to take any of the SHIELD gear he had managed to accumulate in the couple of months he had been unfrozen before his final mission for the organization. 

“Where's Stark?” 

“Busy. Where's Agent Hill?” 

“Busy.” 

His statement was belied by Hill and Coulson walking in through a side entrance, their faces inscrutable. 

“Stuttgart.” 

Fury nodded. “Tell the pilot.”

“I'm sorry, I don't have my passport with me,” Banner said wryly, “I was expecting maritime law.” 

“I don't have a passport,” Steve added. “I mean, I did—I think it's in the Smithsonian now.” 

“And expired.” 

Steve nodded, waving two fingers in Banner's direction in agreement. “That too.” 

“Are you two done?” Fury's voice was admirably restrained for the obvious clench in his jaw. 

“Yeah,” Banner said easily. “So, you want to tell us why we're here?”

* * *

“You didn't tell me that you were coming in.” 

“What can I say?” Tony asked rhetorically, taking off his helmet before flashing Steve a wide grin. “I like a dramatic entrance.” 

“Did it work?” 

Tony, still wearing his armor and entirely cognizant of what that did to Steve when he got all cocky, sauntered over. “Completely self-sustaining and ready to replicate.

“By the way—Pepper owns twelve percent.” 

He stopped in front of Steve, trailing his index finger down from his collar to the silver star affixed to his chest. “The suit, it's...” He paused, cocking his head as he gave Steve a thorough once-over. “It's something. 

“I mean, don't get me wrong, I like the tightness of it—really snug at the best bits. Don't know about the design, though.” Steve met Tony's eyes and he threw his shoulders back a little, managing to put all of his best angles forward. 

“You like it.” 

“I never said I didn't.”

“Are you two going to be like this the _entire_ duration to where you're taking me? Because I'd preferred to be jailed and tortured than listen to your absolutely sickening mating rituals.” 

“You'll be there soon enough, don't worry.” 

And then, of course, everything went sideways. (Literally _and_ figuratively—because nothing else would make any sense).

* * *

“So...” Tony paused, tapping away at his phone—after a few seconds he let out a triumphant noise and placed it once more in his pocket. 

“So?” Steve asked, not knowing whether Tony forgot what he was going to say or simply prolonging the moment for some indeterminable reason. 

“Okay, so SHIELD's hiding things from us.” 

“Obviously,” Banner agreed, “but it's not like Fury's going to tell us what those things are.” 

Tony shrugged, shooting Steve a look that he could only read as, 'I love you and this is for the best, don't be mad at me,' before opening his mouth and saying: “I should be able to, in about five minutes.” 

“Tony, you didn't,” Steve said, bringing his right hand to his forehead as he tried to think of the moment when Tony had— 

“The Galaga guy.” 

“No, my sweet, summer, super-soldier—the Fury impression.” 

Steve, despite trying to keep some sort of disapproving look on his face, couldn't help but roll his eyes as he sidled up to where Tony was leaning against one of the lab tables. Tony widened his stance to let Steve between his legs. 

“You're such an asshole,” Steve finally replied, a little annoyed. He made sure to get startlingly close in Tony's space. Tony winked at him before curling his lip up, a little mean. 

A throat cleared, and it was only then that Steve actually remembered that Banner was in the room with them. 

“Hey, uh, Tony, do you want to continue with our work, or...,” Banner trailed off, shrugging a little. “Or are we all just dicking around, I guess.” 

Tony pulled away from Steve. 

“Yeah, Bruce, let's get to work.

“Hey, Steve?” 

“What, Tony?” 

“Look around, will you? Find something to backup what J finds.” 

“Sure,” Steve started sarcastically, “I'll get right on that.

“Because I'm sure it'll be as easy as opening an unmarked door and seeing something incriminating behind it.” 

“You never know,” Tony called out from behind him as he walked out of the lab. 

“'You never know',” Steve imitated to himself once the door closed. 

He looked around the hallway and threw up his hands. This was going to be a fucking snipe hunt, Steve just knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xoxo
> 
>  
> 
> I don't intend for this to become the Bruce show, but I friggin' love Bruce, so it just might. (Also, Steve not remembering he's there is, I think, a nice parallel to the actual MCU.)


End file.
